Nike Team Breakaway adds 2nd tryout date

[BreakawayProGM]

Nike Team Breakaway would like to thank all the people who came to our tryout the weekend of the snow storm. We drew a lot of talented players. Now in respect to the snow storm we had anticipated approximately 100 people or more for that weekend. The snow hindered quite a few from participating. We began to receive emails, calls and all sorts of contacts on the Saturday before out tryout and still receiving inquiries. In all fairness to what we are trying to establish there is a need to have a second tryout but this will only be open to only those who did not make it to the last date. This date will be set for sometime in January. The time and date TBD. We will try to get this done ASAP so to not hold up players who basically want to assure a spot on a roster and will be attending other tryouts as well. Thanks for your understanding.

Jason Toran
General Manager
Nike Team Breakaway
BreakawayProGM@aol.com

[TeamBreakaway]

Just to add to what Jason said. The 2nd tryout will be early January and again only for those who did not come to the first tryout. This way we can conduct a fair and even evaluation. It was hard trying to rate the players who showed up and we want to be fair with everyone.
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.teambreakaway.com

[-venom-]

What about those who paid and showed up the first day, were offered to come back for the 2nd day, but couldn't make it?

[BreakawayProGM]

This tryout is for those who could not attend the first one.

Jason Toran
General Manager
Nike Team Breakaway
BreakawayProGM@aol.com

[BreakawayProGM]

Our second tryout will be held either Monday January 5th or Tuesday January 6th in the evening. We will have a definite date after Christmas. Again this tryout will be for players who were unable to attend the first tryout earlier this month. The roster selection process will proceed after the second tryout. Hang in there guys! I know everybody is anxious.


Jason Toran
General Manager
Nike Team Breakaway
BreakawayProGM@aol.com

[TeamBreakaway]

Since our last posts we've discussed the situations with the second tryouts and have come to a conclusion that the guys that we had looked favorably at the first tryouts deserve to mixed in with the guys trying out for the second tryout. This is a curtesy given because under normal situations you rate the players on their ability and no better way to rate the ability but to see the best of the first group skate with the new tryouts so that we can better gauge the true talent. So the people whom we thought would make the team at the first tryout will be invited to come to the second tryout at our expense and this way we can make a true assessment of our players. Those players who were at the first tryouts will be receiving a call within the next few days.
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
TeamBreakaway@aol.com
http://www.teambreakaway.com

[NLane]

Isn't anyone in your area that's half decent already playing for a team or have been to the first tryout dates? If you're looking for out of town talent having tryouts on week nights isn't really the way to go, is it? Something here just doesn't add up. Maybe just looking for more tryout money?

[MDE3]

To be fair to Pedro and his team, the original tryouts were on a Sunday and Monday, and you could attend either. That weekend had a major snowstorm (most MLRH games were cancelled) and quite a few players who wanted to make the tryouts, asked for another chance.

As far as them doing it for extra money, well I know they have invited at least some of the original players back to the second tryouts for free, to get a look at how they compare with the new talent. That doesn't sound like a "money" only operation.

As far as the weekday dates go, I believe that is due primarily to the playing schedule of Mattie Denton, who runs the tryouts, as I believe he has Mudcat and MLRH travel obligations for most of the following weekends until PIHA starts less than 2 months away.

Hope that helps, and PS I'm sure they would love to have a look at your son if possible.

Merry Christmas :)

[TeamBreakaway]

Just as a quick note. The original contact list for the first tryout was approx 125 players. Because of the snow storm we had approx 50 show. From the Saturday before the tryout's and still coming we have been overwhelmed with calls and emails about a make up tryout. We did get a good look at the players who showed up on Sunday as well as Monday. The $45.00 covered both days and trust me $45.00 is nothing compared to the other tryouts that charge $75.00. We did not go into this intending to make money out of it but to help further the sport. We have a very good base of young players that once they turn 18 we wanted to give something else besides mens league and just tournaments. The players who attended the first tryouts are being invited back so that they get a fair viewing and we can make a better judging of their ability along side the players who will be there for the first time on the second tryouts. The object was not just to put a a half decent team together. It was to put a good team together with the best possible talent that we can. I had quite a few players from your area in VA tryout and we have our notes on them. The fact is that besides it being necessary to do a second tryout it also gives us a chance to see if the people who did tryout from out of town will be reliable for practices as well as making everygame no matter what night it is. The tryout was not just for the PIHA team. We are also looking at players for a tournament Pro / Gold team as well. This is drawing players from all over. The problem here is that with TORHS the weekend of January 2, 3 & 4th and NARCh the following week we have to do the tryout during the week. the prelim roster is due the 3 week of January and with other clubs having their tryouts we wanted to be fair with our options as well. Hope this answered your questions.
Wishing everyone a relaxing Merry Christmas
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.TeamBreakaway.com

[TeamBreakaway]

Ian should come out. It will be a little strange because I coach a few of his players in the younger divisions. But Ian is a Warrior!
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.teambreakaway.com

[EMANON]

This is great because I wasn't able to make it there because of the snow but am making the arrangements to be there this time. I know that I called on Saturday evening to the number on the Breakaway website and left a message on an answering machine that because of the snow we wouldn't be able to make it there. I'll be coming with a buddy of mine. Looking forward to it.
BTW I remember paying close to $80.00 last year for other tryouts. The $45.00 will be worth it to us at least. I'll use the extra $35.00 on gas and food.

[NLane]

Post deleted by RichardGraham

[NLane]

Already committed means something. Did the Snipers lose by that big of a margin because some of their team was skating elsewhere? And who needs a roster this early? Then the other team should still be adding to their roster. I don't know. Something just doesn't sit right..probably just me. And Ian isn't looking to be there or he would have been at the first one with his friends.

[TeamBreakaway]

Have no idea what the Snipers did. Some of the Sniper players have been skating for other teams all year long. PIHA asks for your roster the 3 week in January. Other teams are having their tryouts as well within the next few weeks. Were following every guideline to make sure that we are within our limits with players and everything we do.
Good luck to Ian wherever he plays.
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.TeamBreakaway.com

[GROWL]

To be fair to the rest of the PIHA teams who charge considerably more for tryouts allow me to defend them. The revenue generated at tryouts is used by all teams to support the organization throughout the year. Trust me it goes quick and is nothing more than a foot in the right direction. I can speak for my organization in saying that last season after the tryout fee, no one was asked for a dime all season, as we went the extra mile in providing everyone with uniforms, even minor leaguers, while covering all costs which most teams do not. The extras we and other teams were able to provide were wll worth the $30 more. However, I recognize that the $45 is attractive to someone from an outside point of view, but please don't use this against the other teams in the league as they are doing their best with what they can. You will see what I mean trust me. Please dont misunderstand where I am coming from, all I'm saying is that Breakaway is just extremely fortunite with their financial situation.

[NLane]

These are, and have been, my thoughts and not Ian's. You should have really good teams because there is so much talent in the area. You need about 24 players?(2 teams) You'll have more than enough from which to choose. Best of Luck in your tryouts.

[NLane]

I was just thinking that if you are sponsored then you shouldn't/wouldn't have to charge for tryouts, that's all.

[MDE3]

Not sure what you are referring to.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by MDE3 on 12/27/03 10:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

[SpeedDemon]

Tryout fees also prevent those 'weekend warriors' from cluttering the event.

Case and point: The Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League held tryouts for their inaugural 2004 season this past Fall. Owned in part by Craig Spencer (real estate mogul) and Jon Bon Jovi (musician), they still charged a modest tryout fee even though they have a ton of backing. Fees also cover the cost of single-instance insurance that is all but a requirement for these types of contact sports.

I don't mind paying a tryout fee as long as I'm going to come away happy with the experience. The last thing you want is 200 people showing up with Mylec sticks they got as a present because it only costs them $19.95.

[TeamBreakaway]

Your right in the fact that the money doesn't go far. We charged the $45.00 based on the players that called and confirmed that they were coming to the tryouts. Again we had approx 125 players said that they were going to come up until the snow. Then we began to get the calls that they couldn't come. Doesn't suprize me especially since all hockey games in the area were cancelled including the ice games. What money we did raise for that tryout went is basically already spent. We did pick up a sponsors but as anyone who know's sponsors know's they no longer give out 100% sponsorships. You always have to spend something to get something. Nike has been really good to our younger teams and very supportive to me in general. It took me 2 years to build the repore with them. They watched us go from one team to what we have today so they know that we will 0nly get bigger and stronger. We have drawn talent from a wide area with our younger teams. This is good because I don't pull the players from their local clubs and make them exclusively our players. They do play for their other clubs as well. They are just challenged more because of the calibre of players that we have. I hope to be able to say the same with our pro team as well. There are lots of talented players around here. If you look at the BIG DOGWGS IE: Mud Cats and the Rink Rats and where their players are from you have a nice spectrum of players. To compete at that level you have to basically draw that calibre of players together. We might have gotten a few for the first tryout. We might draw a few more for the second tryout. I am constantly being contacted by players about playing and in fairness to the one's that tryed out I want to have everyone come out to the tryout this way there is no favoritetism. I have not done it with my younger teams and don't expect to do it with the older one's as well.
Reference to Ian. He's a good player. I was not nor will I ever debate that. I've seen him play and he is good. I've coached against him as well. He brings lots to game as a player and coach as well.
Nike Team Breakaway is not into the game for just the money. We are fortunate in the fact that when you draw the talented players you also draw a few people who want to see the players do something good for them selves and are not afraid to donate a few dollars to have it go towards those players. Now in refferance to our younger teams. The primary cost has come from the parents. If we do a fund raiser that money goes towards what we are doing with the teams. We hope to be able to provide gear for our players as well. This stuff does not come to us free. If you figure insurance fee and rink rentals you will see that $45.00 doesn't go far. At the same time we wanted to keep the tryout cost effective for the players who would probably be trying out for a few clubs. When a player see's that a club goes all out to accomidate them and do their best to provide them with what they need without that gauge they have a different out look towards that team. They become more involved in what that club does. We hope to be able to spread the pro's knowledge to our younger players. Be it at practices, clinics of even getting a few involved behind the bench with me. The younger players always look for that player to imulate. If you ask lots of the local boys who they look up to the name CJ Yoder is one of the first to come up. Out of our rink the boys look at Matty Denton. Ron Tracy is also another player that is up there with the younger players. Whenever you see these guys playing you see the younger boys eye's glued to the moves and when you see those boys clowning around you see them trying the moves they saw. IE: the michigan / Yager and the sick toe drags.
The Grawl has done some good things with their younger players. Their clinics are very good for the inhouse kids. It's nice to see those kids getting something from skilled players. I know that the players who play under Ian also look up to his skill. I hear it all the time from the boys from VA. When you see our team at Nationals and there's a pro game playing. Most of our guys are observing the plays. If you ask players like Matty Denton he will tell you that when the Mudcats score he hears our boys cheering.
So in refferance to us being extremely fortunate with their financial situation. We get what we put into our club. Then we get what we put into the community as well.
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.teambreakaway.com

[MDE3]

LOL ......aw c'mon...what snobbery....throwing water on the Horatio Alger dream (and no don't ask me who he plays for). BTW to support Pedro's and your comments, Mattie runs a very good tryout, with drills aimed at showing all facets of play including game sense. Definitely money well spent.

[NLane]

Once again I am saying that Ian is not the speaker or the subject of my posts!!!

[NLane]

One of their big D was playing TORHS.

[dude10k]

i agree. i loved the tryout i had so much fun. tryout was worth every penny n more.

[RichardGraham]

Hi Pedro,

I'm impressed by the effort you have been making and the results your program has been showing. I appreciate your informative posts and wish Team Breakaway great success.

Sincerely,

Richard Graham
Editor
Inline Hockey Central

[-venom-]

Jay-

Got your message, my phone has since been shut off (yeah, forgot to pay the bill... haha)

I'll get back to you tonight.

-bob

[TeamBreakaway]

I'd like to thank all who showed up for the tryouts. Monday night (second tryout) was well worth the wait. We had a mix of players show up. Some from the first tryout and many new faces. By new I mean people who haddn't showed up for the first tryout but are well known in the hockey sceane. It was fun to evaluate tonight but let me tell you that with all the talent that showed up I can tell you that is will be hard to make the picks. Do we go with the players because of their names and noterity or do we go based on what they showed at the tryouts? Do we let past performances from the known players sway us to have those guys play or do we go strictly on the fact that someone had a good tryout? I guess only time will tell but I will say that I was very impressed with the people who showed up and also with what I saw the second time around. It's not good unless you stand infront of it is right. Nothing but the best for the year 2004! To beat the best you have to have the best. A lot of the best did show up for the tryouts. The line up should be out shortly. So I guess everyone will be waiting for the drum roll?
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.teambreakaway.com
By the way you can check out the new addition of hardware from the TORHS Winter Cup at the Coliseum in Voorhees, New Jersey placed next to that huge cup from the Summer TORHS Nationals 2003 Cup.

[Trainwreck]

Is that the hardware for the adult team at TORHS? I couldn't have been more dissappointed to see you guys get smoked by team cheap wheel and the Budweiser boys as well. Congrats on the younger guys victory, but there is a lot of work to be done from the adult up to the Pro level.

[TeamBreakaway]

We threw a team together for the TORHS Winter Cup. No it was not what showed up for the tryout just guys who wanted to compete. Never do we pass up a chance to compete because having fun is part of the game. The guys who competed just wanted to get together and have fun. Thanks for the congrats on the younger teams. Those were the teams we concentrated on with winning but also wanted to keep things in prospective. Trying to teach the boys that if they compete they are winners anyway because if they don't compete they never know if they had a shot! Couldn't show what we had before having our tryouts. We still are not 100% sure who has made the team. We will be making that decision soon!
Pedro
Nike Team Breakaway
http://www.TeamBreakaway.com

[SpeedDemon]

As Pedro already mentioned, the Adult and Senior teams were thrown together the day before the Winter Cup, with what turned out to be about 5 skaters a squad. I don't think anybody was expecting much more than a good hard skate against some good competition. It would be foolish to expect otherwise.

Judging by the talent that attended last night's tryout, I think the work for the adult through pro levels is well on its way. Good luck, it was fun skating with everyone. Now, we can only just wait for a call!

[BreakawayProGM]

I agree completely with you pedro. There was some awesome tallent there last night. We have some hard choices to make over the next few days. I just wanna thank everyone who came out and wish them all the best no matter what happens.

Jason Toran
General Manager
Nike Team Breakaway
BreakawayProGM@aol.com